BMC's road-widening plan hits mega block

The BMC has not managed to execute its plan to widen the Goregaon West station road for the past 15 years. Now, officials say work will begin in six months

For 15 years, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been planning to widen the road connecting Goregaon railway station to SV Road — a busy road frequented by pedestrians, auto rickshaws and buses through the day.

A new theatre and added railway track would further shrink the 25-30 feet wide road leading from Goregaon railway station to SV Road. Pic/Nimesh Dave

But while the plan to widen a 400-metre stretch along the Station Road in Goregaon (W) is gathering dust, the road is actually shrinking with every passing year.

As per BMC records the stretch sees 25,000 to 30,000 footfalls everyday apart from hundreds of auto rickshaws and hawkers. Things are about to get worse, say locals, as two major upcoming projects would further congest the road.

New plansThe BMC has planned to construct a new theatre in Goregaon (W) near Topiwala market, which is just 100 metres away fromthe station.

Apart from the proposed theatre, Western Railway has begun a project to extend the Harbour line up to Goregaon, which would add to the traffic chaos here. The deadline for the project is September 2014. The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has already laid the first set of tracks on a small stretch between Jogeshwari and Goregaon.

Shopkeepers unmovedIn 2007, the BMC had issued notices to 30 shop owners who were obstructing the road-widening project, to vacate their structures. The existing road, which is about 25-30 feet wide would have become 43 feet wide after the project.

The shopkeepers ignored the notice and BMC never started work on the project. “The project was stuck as there was no rehabilitation plan for the shop keepers and they didn’t want to move out from Goregaon,” said a BMC official from the localP-south office.

Sachin Chavan, a local social worker connected to Nationalist Congress Party wrote to the BMC administration that the civic body should rehabilitate the shopkeepers in the space reserved for the proposed theatre.

BMC speakThe BMC is hoping to start the widening work in the next six months. “We have started a survey of shopkeepers again. Once all due procedure gets completed, we will start the work,” said Ramakant Biradar, assistant municipal commissioner of the P-south ward.